1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sliding door arrangement for a motor vehicle in which the sliding door is slidable into opened and closed positions, and in which a lock arrangement is provided for fixing the sliding door in the opened and in the closed position, the lock arrangement having a catch lever arrangement, the catch lever arrangement having a pivoting catch lever, the catch lever being movable into an engaged state and into a raised state and being pretensioned into the engaged state, the catch lever arrangement having a first engagement element and a second engagement element which the catch lever engages in an engaged state, the catch lever, when the sliding door is in the opened position being able to engage the first engagement element and the catch lever which is then in the engaged state fixing the sliding door in the opened position.
The invention is also directed to a sliding door arrangement for a motor vehicle in which the lock arrangement has a latch arrangement a pivoting latch and a ratchet, the latch being movable between an open position and a catch position and being held in the catch position by the ratchet, the latch arrangement having a first engagement element and a second engagement element and the latch engaging the second engagement element when the sliding door is moved into the closed position thereby being transferred into the catch position and fixing the sliding door in the closed position.
Furthermore, the invention also relates to a sliding door arrangement for a motor vehicle in which the lock arrangement has a latch arrangement, the latch arrangement having a pivoting latch and a ratchet, the latch being movable between an open position and a catch position and being held in the catch position by the ratchet, the latch arrangement having a first engagement element and a second engagement element and the latch engaging the second engagement element when the sliding door is moved into the closed position, thereby being transferred into the catch position and fixing the sliding door in the closed position
The invention also relates to the lock arrangements of aforementioned sliding door arrangements.
2. Description of Related Art
Here, the expression “sliding door arrangement” combines all components which are necessary for the functionality of a sliding door. They include, in addition to the sliding door itself, also the corresponding frame which is provided in the motor vehicle body, guide rails, etc.
Sliding doors have been used for a long time for delivery trucks and vans, more recently also increasingly for passenger vehicles. It is common to all sliding doors that they can be moved by a sliding motion into an opened position and into a closed position. This sliding motion takes place essentially parallel to the side wall of the motor vehicle. The fact that it is possible to load and unload and to get in and out without difficulty is especially advantageous. Against this background, operating safety, especially secure fixing of the sliding door in the closed position, is becoming more and more important, the increase in operating safety to be associated as little as possible with an increase in costs. At the same time, the requirements for ease of use increase.
The known sliding door arrangement (German Patent Application DE 33 10 961 A1; U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,246) underlying this invention shows comparatively great ease of use. Here, there is a conventional lock arrangement for fixing the door in the closed position. To fix the sliding door in the opened position, the lock arrangement is equipped with a catch lever arrangement which has a pivoting catch lever with a hook-shaped portion. When the sliding door is in the opened position, the catch lever, especially the hook-shaped portion of the catch lever, can be caused to engage an engagement element which is located on the body of the vehicle, the sliding door being fixed in the open position by the catch lever which is in the locked state. By manual actuation by the user the catch lever can be moved into the raised state so that the sliding door can be moved again in the direction of its closed position. This fixing of the sliding door in the opened position is especially advantageous when the motor vehicle is on a slope and the sliding door would automatically move into the closed position by the force of gravity without additional fixing. The disadvantage in the known sliding door arrangement is the fact that fixing of the sliding door in the closed state is not adequate in certain cases. One example of this is a side impact in case of a crash in which the sliding door is guided simply on guide rails or the like and can easily pull out where the lock arrangement does not act.
A different known sliding door (U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,109) shows high operating reliability even in the case of a crash, since viewed in the lengthwise direction of the motor vehicle there is the lock of the lock arrangement both in the forward area and also in the rear area of the sliding door. In this way, the above described pulling out of the sliding door in case of a crash is effectively prevented. However, fixing of the sliding door in the opened position is not implemented. Moreover, overall, this sliding door arrangement has a very complex construction.
Simplification of the construction of a sliding door arrangement which also has the function of fixing the sliding door in the opened position is shown by British Patent Application GB 2 210 339 A. There, it is provided that the function of fixing the sliding door in the closed position is combined with the function of fixing the sliding door in the opened position; therefore, the lock intended for this purpose is used twice. A construction for implementation of this concept is, in any case, not suggested.
One possible manner of implementing the aforementioned double use of a lock is given in U.S. Pat. No. 3,198,564 in which a latch made as a rotary latch is proposed that interacts with a ratchet arrangement. The latch has a first inlet mouth for engaging a first engagement element and a second inlet mouth for engaging a second engagement element. The two engagement elements are located on opposite sides of the opening of the vehicle body which is to be closed, so that fixing of the sliding door both in the opened position and also in the closed position is possible. This approach is, in turn, structurally complex due to the necessity of the existence of a ratchet arrangement.